Home »
Psalm 15
Proper 11C
It’s quite the list. Is blameless (so commits no sin presumably) Does what is righteous Speaks the truth and so never lies Never slanders a neighbor or utters any kind of slur against anyone Despises the vile but honors the good Keeps promises no matter what it costs Gives interest-free money to the poor and…
Genesis 18:1-10
Proper 11C
Divine Revelation Genesis 18:1-10 is a duplicate telling of the same information—a technique quite familiar to the reader of Genesis. Note, for example, the double telling of creation. Biblical criticism accounts for this through the naming of various narrative voices in Hebrew Scripture. Leaving that intensive evaluative technique aside for the moment, what we read…
Psalm 25:1-10
Proper 10C
Some years back I was a guest preacher at a local church and they told me that the service for that Sunday was going to be focused on education. They were celebrating that spring’s graduates in the congregation as well as noting the importance of running Christian day schools as in my Reformed tradition we…
Deuteronomy 30:9-14
Proper 10C
Some bible verses should come with content warnings and I think this week’s Hebrew Scripture lectionary text is a good example. Sometimes Scripture puts promises in God’s mouth that do not match our boots on the ground experience of God. “The Lord your God will help you succeed in everything you do—in your own fertility,…
Psalm 66:1-9
Proper 9C
To read Psalm 66 while bombs are dropping in Israel, Iran, Gaza, Ukraine, and maybe other places is an odd, disconcerting experience. “All the earth bows to you, they sing the praises of your name.” Really? “His eyes watch the nations, let not the rebellious rise up against him.” Is God just watching, just observing? …
2 Kings 5:1-14
Proper 9C
How status works: The kings in this story set up a stark distinction. First, the narrator highlights the king of Aram’s many and great military victories. Ordinarily, this is an ancient near-eastern literary device to demonstrate, according to the CEB Study Bible “that a country’s gods were able to give victory to their people in…
2 Kings 2:1-14
Proper 8C
Illustration: I am a younger sister. My brother is five years older than I, which meant two things: I thought he was the coolest and he got to do a lot of things I wasn’t allowed to do yet. Which means I know what it feels like to get left behind, envious of the great…
Psalm 16
Proper 8C
We have all seen the latter portion of Psalm 16 used at Christian funerals. It gets printed on the memorial folder or the funeral service bulletin. Or we preachers are asked to base our funeral sermon on Psalm 16, especially verses 9-11. And we have occasionally seen verse 9b engraved on headstones at the cemetery. …
Psalm 22:19-28
Proper 7C
Psalm 22 certainly appears to have one of the biggest turnarounds in the Hebrew Psalter. After famously opening with a cry of divine abandonment and utter dereliction—followed by increasingly graphic descriptions of suffering and ridicule by enemies—the psalm concludes with effusive praise. The God who could not be located as the poem began returned, came…
I Kings 19:1-4, 8-15
Proper 7C
Illustration: Theologian Craig Barnes talks about the temptation to preach what he calls “bad dog sermons.” This is when the preacher stands in her pulpit, wagging a finger at the congregation. If she could reach their noses, she might even smack them with a rolled up newspaper, while scolding “Bad dog. Bad dog!” While there…
Content related to Old Testament